63 Gold, 44 Silver, 50 Bronze, 1 Black Eye

The 23rd Southeast Asian Games being held in Manila have produced as of this blogging, (SEA Games homepage) 63 Gold Medals, 44 Silver Medals, 50 Bronze Medals and 1 Black Eye for the Philippines. The latter black medalion won't be worn by any of the Filipino athletes however, but by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo who has ordered a swift investigation into why Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra just gave her a piece of Thai kick-boxing to bring to the upcoming December Summit of the Association of Southeast Asian nations, ASEAN. It comes at an awkward time for the beleaguered Philippine leader, who is embroiled in a devastating six-month old controversy over charges she rigged the 2004 vote along with Comelec Commissioner and Fugitive From Justice, Virgilio Garcillano. Charged with cheating her own countrymen (by a large and respectable coalition of forces led by former President Corazon Aquino, Senate President Franklin Drilon, ten of her most trusted Cabinet secretaries, as well as the traditional Opposition), she may want to skip ASEAN altogether this year. She could easily fire back and question the fact that other host countries have had "unexpected" medal hauls in past SEA Games, such as when first-timer Vietnam garnered an amazing 150 medals a few years back. But that might raise some hackles and chuckles because of the parallelism with accusations the Palace and Garci are going to be making in Congress about the cheating of other candidates in the 2004 elections, among other defensive-offensive gambits. Now regarding the only sport that Filipinos seem to care about -- basketball -- which was delisted from the Southeast Asian Games this year, look at this article at the SEA Games official website which touches on that touchy issue:

Southeast Asian Games Federation Council president Jose Cojuangco Jr. on Thursday distinguished the 23rd Southeast Asian Games for the decision of the body to increase the number of events and de-list basketball from the calendar of events.

In his brief but meaty report to the Council Cojuangco cited the unanimous move of the Sports and Rules Committee to set aside the 12-calendar-month deadline under Provision No. 37 of the Statutes and Rules due to the change in leadership of the National Olympic Committee of host Philippines.

“This decision is again an expression of unity from our member countries who also concurred to strictly abide by the Statutes and Rules in the succeeding editions of the Southeast Asian Games.”

On the decision to de-list basketball, Cojuangco thanked the Council for understanding the predicament of the Philippines that prevented the staging of the event.

“Based on the count of our technical committee, our Games drew 3,915 athletes and 2,207 officials for a total of 6,122. Our Games were also covered by more than 1,000 journalists from different parts of our region. The Southeast Asian Games also had guests from the Opening Ceremonies Committee of the forthcoming Asian Games in Qatar,” Cojuangco reported to the Council.

If you didn't get this, Cojuanco is apologizing for the internal politics of Philippine National Olympic Committee for the forced de-listing of basketball at the SEA Games. The host country was too busy with its own labyrinthine and parochial in-fighting to get perhaps its most undeniably competitive sport onto the roster of games.

WHY PDI, WHY? I wonder how Philippine sports got so politicized this year that it has actually interfered with the conduct of sports itself. Now here is something STRANGE. I was going to link Philippine Commentary readers to this article, entitled RP Sports Exec Quashes Thai Leader's doubts over SEA Games but it has DISAPPEARED from the Philippine Daily Inquirer's INQ7 website (404 error when you click on the link above). But the Global Mind never seems to forget, because in the Google Asia cache server, I found it, and here reproduce the same article in full:

RP sports exec quashes Thai leader's doubts over SEA Games

Nov 30, 2005
Updated 03:20pm (Mla time)
Veronica Uy
INQ7.net

DOUBTS over the fairness of the results in the Southeast Asian Games were quashed by a top sports official of host country Philippines on Wednesday.

Eric Buhain, chairman of the Games and Amusement Board and ambassador of the SEA Games, told INQ7.net that Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra should not question the performance of the Filipinos.

Earlier on Wednesday, without naming the Philippines, the Thai leader expressed disappointment over the outcome of the competitions and said that more importance had been given to the medal race than to the athletic spirit.

"Measurable sports like running, swimming, fencing, and water polo cannot be rigged as insinuated by Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra," Buhain said.

"The only way you can question the SEA Games is in the subjective games. This is just the fourth day and the Philippines is leading pero hindi pa tapos ang boxing, judo, o wrestling...[but boxing, judo or wrestling are not over] .One-zero ang bilangan sa mga yan [The counting in these competitions is one-zero]. Even in fencing, the scores are counted electronically," he said.

Buhain, who is in the Senate for the budget hearing of GAB, said the Philippines' top gold medal ranking was based on the actual performance of the athletes.

He attributed the rich medal harvest to First Gentleman Jose Miguel "Mike" Arroyo's financial assistance and the Philippines' "deep bench."

Buhain cited Arroyo's contribution to local sports through the Medalyang Ginto (Gold Medal) program, which gave 25 million pesos to 85 athletes in the last SEA Games.

"To prepare for this year, [the same program] supported 280 of the Philippines' 890 athletes with 160 million pesos. That's 160 million divided by 280 athletes," Buhain said.

"That's pretty big. That's why what we see now is really the result of that," he said.

Buhain said the Philippines and the 10 other countries, including Thailand, which participated in the last SEA Games in Vietnam did not question the host country when it got 150 gold medals. It was Vietnam's first time to host the biennial event.

"He [Thai prime minister] should not question our performance at all," Buhain said.

The Thai leader said he might raise the medal issue on the sidelines of the December summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Malaysia.

Four days into the SEA Games, the Philippines continues to lead the medal standings as it rakes in more golds in the various sporting events. Vietnam and Thailand are second and third respectively.

I have no idea how or why this article has apparently been pulled from the PDI INQ7 website, where it is the TOP HIT on Google Site Search for "eric buhain." Perhaps it was too revealing about the MONEY that has been floating around Philippine sports circles courtesy of the First Gentleman. He should've stayed in EXILE. He IS the black eye the President will be wearing at the ASEAN summit. Has PDI become a crony paper? Seems to me only direct communications with the Prieto family owners can accomplish this apparent act of SELF-CENSORSHIP. Hey Rizalist, where is that Journalist Code of Ethics again?

The Google Spider left this trace of its crawl at the PDI website: This is G o o g l e's cache of http://news.inq7.net/mpda/html_output/20051130-58286.xml.html as retrieved on 30 Nov 2005 10:16:34 GMT.

But why PDI, why? Was there a Temporary Restraining Order from the First Gentleman?

UPDATES

(11:00) TERRORISM There is of course some deadly serious business that the ASEAN leaders summit will be tackling, as described in this PDI article that has NOT disappeared from INQ7.

Ex-JI militants building base for attacks in RP
TWO Jemaah Islamiyah leaders have cut their ties with the Indonesian-based terrorist group and established a base in the southern Philippines to continue waging attacks in both countries, according to a captured Indonesian militant. The Indonesian militants -- Dulmatin, who goes by one name, and Umar Patek -- have trained recruits and plotted attacks in their southern Philippine base, but their efforts have been hampered by several arrests and army offensives, according to a report on the interrogation of Abdullah Sunata, an alleged rebel leader captured in Indonesia in June.

Oh, and should you be wondering what that splendid lil war was all about between President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and Eugenio "Gabby" Lopez III, Julius Babao, Jonathan Tiongco and the Rajah Solaiman Movement, here is a a good starting point.

Lots of people, bloggerdom included, do not realize the above Julius Babao Controversy is more than the freedom of ABSCBN to get scoops from terrorist suspects, it is about finding that Dulmatin character, who most people don't seem to know has up to $10 Million Reward on his head, right up there with Osama and Zarq. This guy is called the "genius of the Jemaah Islamiyah" by the BBC. This guy DID Bali. Both of them some think . And Dulmatin probably has a mistress or two and lots of "friends" in Mindanao, which some opine is the R&R area for the JI-- who'd get selected parts of their bodies chopped off in Muslim Indonesia for practices that here would be considered purely recreational and uplifting.

MIRIAM THE PATRIOT MISSILE: The Tribune reports on Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago giving Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra a piece of her mind. (Now that is a scary thought all by itself.) But check-out the Tribune's editorial cartoon today.

But I never thought a blog about CATS would hit me like this, until I found BAGHDAD GIRL

(1210) IMMUNITY FOR GARCI! Lynda Jumilla of ABSCBN News has just confirmed a prediction made here just yesterday...that Garci wants IMMUNITY in exchange for his testimony...that he knows of Opposition figures that also cheated in the 2004 elections! The request is put in the mouth of aforementioned Patriot Missile, who is laying the groundwork for Garci himself to demand such protection when he appears in Congress. But REMEMBER this: MANY cheated in 2004. But only ONE produced or recorded the Garci Conversations, only ONE is guilty of wiretapping or the most expert audio forgery in history. If it is the latter, then the Garci conversations are not illegally wiretapped but faked. If it is the former, then that is violation of national security and ought to be prosecuted, as Garci says, to the fullest extent of the law, under the Anti-Wire Tapping Act.

(1300) Like GARCI that disappearing article has REAPPEARED, with the same timestamp but it has CHANGED! Google and I have both versions. I shouldnt read anything too sinister into this. None of the stuff about FG seems to have changed much between the two versions, so that's ok, thought there are whole new lead paragraphs. I must grant PDI the same "editorial prerogatives" though, since I arrogate those unto myself too! But contrast and compare for whatever it's worth:

Palace, sports exec quash Thai leader's doubts on SEA Games
Nov 30, 2005
Updated 03:20pm (Mla time)
Veronica Uy Lira Dalangin-Fernandez ldalangin@inq7.net
INQ7.net

(UPDATE) MALACAÑANG and a top sports official quashed doubts raised by Thai Prime Ministesr Thaksin Shinawatra over the fairness of the results in the Southeast Asian Games.

"I'm sure that all the athletes were doing their best and they were judged accordingly," Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said Wednesday.

Bunye however refused to elaborate on the Palace position.

He said the Filipino athletes would not be dampened by the issue and would continue their medal haul to make the Philippines the overall champion in the 11-nation biennial event.

Eric Buhain, chairman of the Games and Amusement Board and ambassador of the SEA Games, told INQ7.net that the Thai leader should not question the performance of the Filipinos.

Earlier on Wednesday, without naming the Philippines, the Thai leader expressed disappointment over the outcome of the competitions and said that more importance had been given to the medal race than to the athletic spirit.

"Measurable sports like running, swimming, fencing, and water polo cannot be rigged as insinuated by Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra," Buhain said.

"The only way you can question the SEA Games is in the subjective games. This is just the fourth day and the Philippines is leading pero hindi pa tapos ang boxing, judo, o wrestling...[but boxing, judo or wrestling are not over] .One-zero ang bilangan sa mga yan [The counting in these competitions is one-zero]. Even in fencing, the scores are counted electronically," he said.

Buhain, who was in the Senate for the budget hearing of GAB, said the Philippines' top gold medal ranking was based on the actual performance of the athletes.

He attributed the rich medal harvest to First Gentleman Jose Miguel "Mike" Arroyo's financial assistance and the Philippines' "deep bench."

Buhain cited Arroyo's contribution to local sports through the Medalyang Ginto (Gold Medal) program, which gave 25 million pesos to 85 athletes in the last SEA Games.

"To prepare for this year, [the same program] supported 280 of the Philippines' 890 athletes with 160 million pesos. That's 160 million divided by 280 athletes," Buhain said.

"That's pretty big. That's why what we see now is really the result of that," he said.

Buhain said the Philippines and the 10 other countries, including Thailand, which participated in the last SEA Games in Vietnam did not question the host country when it got 150 gold medals. It was Vietnam's first time to host the competition.

"He [Thai prime minister] should not question our performance at all," Buhain said.

The Thai leader said he might raise the medal issue on the sidelines of the December summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Malaysia.

Four days into the SEA Games, the Philippines continues to lead the medal standings as it rakes in more golds in the various sporting events. Vietnam and Thailand are second and third respectively.

The Google Spider's message when it crawled the INQ7.net website and found this second version reads:

This is G o o g l e's cache of http://news.inq7.net/mpda/html_output/20051201-58355.xml.html as retrieved on 1 Dec 2005 08:19:49 GMT. G o o g l e's cache is the snapshot that we took of the page as we crawled the web. The page may have changed since that time.

UPDATE (19:00) Via Email:

Hi Dean, this is JV Rufino, editor in chief at INQ7.net. We met some time ago at some Inquirer gathering where you discussed error margins for trust ratings.

Saw your post by way of Manolo on the disappearing article. The article was
moved from Breaking News to Top Stories and was updated to carry additional
comments from the Palace (hence the word "update" at the start of the
article). The earlier article quoted only Buhain. This is the new URL:

http://news.inq7.net/top/index.php?index=1&story_id=58286

A story that's moved to the top story section gets greater exposure on the
INQ7 homepage as it replaces the Inquirer headlines underneath the main
photo.

By the end of the day, there are no Inquirer headlines on the top portion of
the homepage as they would have been replaced by our own banner and top
stories which remain on the site until the new Inquirer headlines come in
after midnight.

Also a small point perhaps, but the story is not an Inquirer story but an
INQ7.net story. My own reporters did the story (both the original and the
udpate) and portions of it were later quoted in the Inquirer.

Regards,
JV

"More Exposure." Thanks for that JV. Well looks like I was wrong folks. PDI is not a crony paper after all. Quite the opposite.

(1930) HOUSE PASSES CHACHA RESOLUTION Constitutional "Commission" Chairman Jose Abueva, in a most desultory performance, was explaining to Ces Drilon how it has now been resolved that the Filipino Nation should give birth to itself for a FIFTH TIME: Malolos (1899), Commonwealth (1935), Martial Law (1972), the 1987 Freedom Constitution, and the 2006 Glorious Constitution. This analogy is not a laughing matter, for it is both literal and figurative. It is a difficult thing to do, and only foolish nations attempt it more than once. Most do amendments over centuries, not self-administered radical brain surgery.